The present invention relates generally to bathtub shower enclosures, and more particularly to an adjustable curved shower curtain rod assembly that combines the advantages of a curved shape to hold a shower curtain directly above the curved contour of the interior surface of a bathtub with a slidably adjustable length to allow the shower rod to be mounted above bathtubs of different sizes, and adjustable end supports to allow the shower rod to be mounted to shower walls at different angles and mounted to the end supports after the end supports are mounted.
In the bathtubs of many bathrooms, a shower nozzle is mounted on one wall so that the user of the bathroom may choose to take a shower instead of a bath within the same bathtub enclosure. Typically, the bathtub enclosure consists of walls on three sides of the bathtub, two side walls and one rear wall, but the fourth side of the bathtub is open to permit entry to and egress from the bathtub. When using the bathtub enclosure to take a shower, the water spray is contained within the bathtub enclosure on three sides by the walls, but water spray can spill into the bathroom by way of the fourth side of the bathtub where there is no wall. Thus, it has long been known in the art that a shower curtain can be suspended from a shower curtain rod that has been attached to the two side walls to enclose the previously open fourth side of the bathtub. Such shower curtain rods have typically comprised a straight rod, of fixed or adjustable length, attached to the two side walls in a fixed position.
However, bathtubs are sold by many different manufacturers in many different shapes and sizes, and are installed by many different workers in many different room configurations. The result of these combined differences is the propagation of myriad sizes of bathtub shower enclosures, and thus there can be no one fixed size of shower curtain rod that will properly fit all or most bathtub enclosures. In addition, many bathtubs are generally oval in shape, and thus suspending a shower curtain from a straight shower curtain rod results in the shower enclosure formed by the shower curtain to be smaller than the base, or footprint, of the bathtub. In addition, using a straight shower curtain rod may result in excessive water spray entering the bathroom from the bathtub shower enclosure around the ends of the shower curtain.
Curved shower curtain rods have typically been used, but these rods have been of fixed length, have required modifications to make them fit in a particular bathtub shower enclosure, or are difficult to install and adjust. Different configurations of mounting brackets, including hinged and ball-and-socket devices, have been used to mount shower curtain rods of fixed length on the bathtub shower side walls, but these devices require the use of a rod of fixed length or an integral mounting bracket, and thus also require modifications to make the rod fit within a particular bathtub shower enclosure. To modify the fixed-length rod to fit within a particular bathtub shower enclosure, it has been necessary to remove the entire shower curtain rod assembly from its installed position on the side walls, cut or adjust the shower curtain rod, and reinstall it on the side walls. This process may need to be repeated several times to achieve an approximate fit. Moreover, if one attempted to modify the length of the rod while it was in an installed position, the attachment of the rod to the side walls could weaken or break. This is particularly problematic if the rod is to be mounted to dry wall.
What is needed, but not provided in the prior art, is an adjustable curved shower curtain rod assembly that is shaped to conform to the curvature of a bathtub or expand the width of a conventional rectangular tub, can be infinitely adjusted in length easily and quickly, and is mounted to the side walls by mounting yokes that are designed to permit adjustment of the rod length, in an installed position, while maintaining constant attachment strength of the rod to the side walls.